Rick Santorum vs. the APA

Speaking to a group of Penn State students, including members of the College Republicans, on Wednesday, the night before his interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan aired, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum boiled with outrage over Morgan’s assertion that his attitude on homosexuality was “bordering on bigotry.”

“So now I’m a bigot because I believe what the Bible teaches,” Santorum said. “And of course we don’t elect bigots to office.”

When a woman interjected, saying “It is extremely unfair for you to say there are no social science reports that suggest that children are OK in a same sex relationships,” Santorum became agitated, even snapping back at one point, “That’s not the point, lawyer.”

He also dismissed the American Psychological Association’s research on homosexuality. “All these associations prove is that they have a point of view and the people who join them, they agree with that point of view,” he said. “The American Psychological Association is not proof of anything.”

In response to Santorum, APA spokeswoman Kim Mills told TIME, “The American Psychological Association’s position in support of same-sex marriage is based on a body of empirical research concerning sexual orientation and marriage. APA believes that it is unfair and discriminatory to deny same-sex couples legal access to civil marriage and all its attendant benefits, rights and privileges.” The APA’s amicus brief for California’s Proposition 8 suit cited nearly 90 medical, pediatric, and psychological studies supporting this position and argued that children of same-sex couples will benefit if their parents are allowed to marry.